Meat ban – a few simple questions

The month of Shravan is the holiest month for Hindus. The Hindu calendar has most of its important festivals – from Rakhi, Janmashtami to Diwali – concentrated in the three month period starting with Shravan. Reason behind this lies in the roots of Indian civilization being strongly tied up with the agricultural cycles. Starting with Shravan, as the monsoon recedes, the farmers would have relatively less work and the coming harvest would leave them with spare resources. Not just Hinduism, but it’s offshoots like Jainism too follow the same principle of following religious practices in this time of year. After all Jainism too has flourished and nourished in the same Indian cradle.

In this trimister different Hindu sects observe more acstetic style of living. People may abstain from eating “saamish” (non-veg), some would remove “tamasic” food elements like onion and garlic from their diet and some may observe a complete fast altogether. The period when these practices are observed varies however – some do this for four months (Chaturmasa), some for one month (Shravan), some for a fortnight (Pitru-paksha) and some for 10 days (Navratra). Jain’s observe it for a 10 days period called as Dasha-lakshana or Paryushana. No matter which period or what practices there be, the central, constant theme behind this is to withdraw oneself a little bit from the worldly affairs and to orient himself towards the spiritual principles. Consequently what is perceived as vices like abuse, violence, hatred etc are discouraged and the universal virtues like love, forgiveness, brotherhood and non-violence is encouraged.

The most painful sight in today’s India is that the basic idea behind this holy period is forgotten and people are indulging themselves in exactly the same activities from which they were rather supposed to abstain! The present issue of imposing #meatban in Mumbai for 4 days during the holy period of “Paryushana Parv” – and the eagerness of the media, small-time politicians and the publicity savvy intellectuals to ensure that unrest prevails in the period of peace – is the latest chapter in our misfortune as Indians to have such immature politicians, blind followers, shallow intellectuals and shrill media.
Since the issue is essentially small and simple (actually a non-issue), I would rather keep my post small and simple as well . Here are few simple questions, find your own answers and draw your own conclusions. You are of course welcome to add your comments below, should you feel.

– The meat ban (or rather #meatban) is in practice since almost 50 years. Why the outragers woke up today?

– What is your take on Gandhi Jayanti (incidently, another Gujju). Will the Shiv-sena and MNS sell liquor on streets on coming Oct 2nd?

– If banning people from eating meat for 4 days is unethical; when Shiv-sena and MNS stops people from celebrating Valentine’s day every year, how exactly is that ethical? (check related post)

– Explain this logical phenomenon by Shiv-sena and likes.
1. Jains should not stake claim in Mumbai…
2. Mumbai belongs to Marathi manoos …
3. Historically, the first known Marathi text exists at a Jain shrine…
4. But Jains are not Marathi… Jains should not claim stake … (go back to 1)

– They say “मुंबई मराठी माणसाचीच” (Mubai belongs to Marathi people only) – what does that exactly mean? Are the other Indians (read outsiders) not supposed to come to Mumbai in search of jobs? On other side they accuse Modi of moving some key Multinational corporations outside Mumbai. So does that mean the government of India should encourage new companies to come to Mumbai, but when it comes to jobs, they should not be available for rest of India? Really? (BTW, this question is not merely for Mumbai – it applies to all Indian metros where regional politics is prevalent)

– Is cooking Chicken in front of Jain establishments is the right way to protest? Enemies of Chh. Shivaji like Afzhal Khan had done similar acts like killing a holy cow in front of Tulja Bhavani shrine. Aren’t the people who lay claims on Chh. Shivaji resorting the ways of his enemies?

– I must agree that it takes a great valor to do acts of protests like cooking Tandoori Chicken in front of another religions establishments. Where were these great soldiers hiding during Yakub Memon’s funeral?

Finally, during the Paryushana the quality of forgiveness – both begging forgiveness and forgiving others – is of utmost important. I hope all of us understand the importance of “forgiving” each other in this Paryushana and move on. Uttam Kshama!